It Won't Get Dark 'Till September
We have been in and around Anchorage for a few days. The climate has been decent. The temperature has not traveled above 72 degrees. During the evening, it has gone into the 40s or 50s. We haven't had more then a light rain, but today is the sunniest. The weirdest part about the day's are they don't end. The sun sets around 1130pm and rises at 430am. For those five hours the sky remains in twilight. I love it because; that is my favorite time of the day. Its definitely strange but cool. It has allowed us to accomplish a lot while sleeping in till noon. Will start with the ending of our 24 hour ride to Alaska.
Our ride from Vancouver to Anchorage went via Seattle. We flew a puddle hooper. I think it was the first time I walked out on to the runway of a airport to board a plane. The ride only took about an hour. After arriving in Terminal N1 at SEA, we relaxed for a bit in the United Air Club. Finally, we boarded our last flight of the day bound for our actual destination. At this point, I just slept for the last 3.5 hours. Upon our arrival in Anchorage, Tony met us almost right outside the gate. It was great to see him. Luckily, he found us. He was going to try and call my phone, but it is all the way home in Maryland.
He gave us a quick tour or Anchorage on the way back to Elmendorf AFB. Tony is living on base for the next few years. This was our first taste of extended twilight. When we got back to his townhouse, I promptly took a shower and went to sleep on the couch.
The next day, we gathered up some supplies at the rec center for our impending camping trip. Then we went over to Tony's work to see some planes. Tony is an Airman First Class. He is Pneudraulic Mechanic in Hanger Two. He showed us around the shop, and all the cool parts he is working with. We were able to see some F-15s up close. One was an E Model and the other was a C/D. Both can be referred too as F-15 Eagles. We also saw some C-130s and AWACS or E-3s. It was really cool to see the different types up close. It was a shame we didn't get to see air show from last weekend, but Tony showed us some video later in the week. We are very lucky to have a personal Air Force Tour Guide.
The rest of our first day, we sat around waiting for our luggage. I'll say this, don't ever fly Air Canada. The gave us so many different stories all day. They had no idea were my backpack was located. After wasting the entire afternoon, we decided to drive back to the airport. At the airport, United was able to help us. Our bags were actually out in route to Tony's house. We waited a few minutes, and the courier brought them to the United Baggage Claim. A weight was lifted off all our shoulders once Dave and I both had our bags back. We drove back to Tony's house to get ready to go out on the town.
Tony invited his friend Johnny over to hangout with us. He is from all over the us because; he grew up in a military family. We had a few drinks at the house, then headed out to Humpy's. This great local Alaskan Alehouse had amazing food. We sat outside in the twilight for our meal. I had some local brew whose name has escaped me, and a glass of Pyramid Ales Hefeweizen. For our appetizer, we had Alaskan Smoked Salmon Spread. Wow. Think awesome crab dip but salmon. For dinner, I had the Health Nut Halibut. Here is the description from Humpy's site.
Alaskan halibut fillet, char-broiled or blackened, served with steamed white rice & teriyaki sauce, lemon, tomato wedges, cucumbers, tartar sauce, and French bread
MMMMmmmm. I love Halibut, and this was cooked to perfection.
After our meal, we drove out to Eagle River. Johnny lives there, and the town boasts the The Homestead Lounge. The point of our journey up to The Homestead Louge was darts. Just darts. It was a good thing because; the backwoods DJ was horrible. He would some what train wreck country into rock into ??????. No Matter. We played 301 until they kicked us out. I wasn't really on a winning team. First, Dave and I were beaten by Jill and Tony. She couldn't miss. Then Johnny and Dave killed Tony and I. Good Times. Good Times.
On Sunday, the Fourth of July, we gathered up some food for camping, etc. After driving around Anchorage to a few stores, we slowly but surely found Flat Top Mountain. It is part of the rugged Chugach Mountains which border the entire city. What a great view! We could seen down into the town, and off into the wilderness. Plus some sweet views of the Gulf of Alaska. We didn't stay too long, Tony was going to have a Fourth of July BBQ at his house in the evening.
We arrived back on base just in time for the party. Johnny and His with Amber were already there. We were later joined by Fernando and his wife Jenny. Then Zach and Becca stopped by the party. Tony cooked up some awesome Onion Bubba Burgers. We also had some hot dogs. All the food was fantastic. Johnny let me try some of his Pyramid Apricot Beer. It was heavey but tastey. For the rest of night/twilight, we played down in the basement. It is an adult playroom. Tony and Jill have a poker table, darts, and a pool table with digital cable and a huge couch! We made use of all three till late at night, well day, whatever time it was. I'm telling you, this daylight all the time is strange.
Monday, we woke up late. I guess around noon? Tony wanted to be out of the house by 10am? That's crazy when you stay up celebrating your country's independence till who knows when. No Matter. We rounded up the final supplies we needed at the commissary and the BX and got on the road. We took Alaska 1 north to Palmer. Then we countinued on the 1 looking for Ruby Lake. A few people suggested this spot as a good place to camp. To save our life, we could not find it. We went through Sutton, past the Matanuska Glacier, through King Mountain, and almost out to Eureka. Finally, we stopped at a roadside shack. Well, it was more of a small grocery store. The man inside was very nice and helpful. We got out his laptop, and helped us find Ruby Lake with topozone.com. We locked the coordinates into our handheld GPS, and were out the door. Only after we bought some coffee and food. The man also offered us some advice. "Its calfing season. Be careful of the bears." He spoke of moose calfs. This was a little scarey. He had been real nice to us, and then he got all serious. It seemed like he was genuinely concerned for our safetly. We had prepared for bears. We had bear pepper spray and a police issue street sweeper shotgun with ounce and a half slugs. We took the advice to heart and walked out the door.
We countined back down south trying to find Ruby Lake. We had to look for a road after a bridge. The river under the bridge was called King River. We found the location. It was only about an hour and a half from Anchorage. Wow, we drove a long way out of our way. Now the fun started. Dave was driving the Jimmy, and he did a good job handling it in the backwoods. We followd a dirt and rock road back a long the river looking for a place to park. We saw a few good campsites, but we kept on driving back. Finally, we couldn't go any further without a vehicle built for "mudding." We turned around, and snagged one of the nice spots right on the river.
We spent some time unpacking the car, loading the shotgun, and pitching the tent. Of course, it was still really light outside around 8pm. We decided to go for a hike through the forest. The area around our site was littered with four wheeler trails. We used the GPS to plot a starting point and started walking. I am not going to lie, I was nervous. You really couldn't see much of anything off the trail because; the forest was so dense. I was hoping that a large man eating bear wouldn't jump out at any moment. Dave and Tony took turns carring the gun for protection. The walked ended up being a great time. We put in about two miles and saw some random stuff. We saw some logging clearing and a few burned out bullet ridding cars from the 50s. Of course, the nature was amazing - mountians, different types of trees, and flowers everywhere. This was Alaska. Way out in the middle of nowhere.
Once back at the site, got a fire going. It wasn't that hard to gather up the necessary wood from out immediate area. We cooked up some dinner, and began to look for things to do. We took pictures of our camp site, took pictures of the river. We could see Mt. McKinley off in the distance. It was real erie out because; it began to rain. The fog and the clouds hovered really close to ground level. Tony was wearing full camo, and you couldn't see him from a distance. We had some visitors for a few minutes. A few local guys from Anchorage stopped in our clearing to change the tires on their truck to go "mudding." They wanted to conquer the areas the Jimmy couldn't touch. That was some excitement for a minute. Closer to midnight, we took a walk down the river. We saw what looked like a random blownup campsite. There was a bronco in the river facing up stream, a sleeping bag in the tree, some trash around a burned out fire, and some shoes in the bedrock. It was a funny site. After this walk, we decided to pack it up. It was as dark outside as it was going to get, it was raining again, and we didn't feel like craming in the tent when home was only an hour and a half drive. The site was packed up in fifteen minutes, and we drove out of the wilderness back onto Alaska 1.
I'm glad we decided to call it a trip. The drive home was amazing. The sun was starting to rise in the east. While we traveled down from the moutians, we were able to see the sun creep through the clouds and from behind the mountians. Plus, the cloud cover and fog was slowly moving through the valleys. We stopped on the side of the road to get some crazy shots of the landscape. I can't wait to see all my pictures!
We arrived back in Anchorage around 330am. We watched some Conan before hitting the hay. I'm finishing up this post on Tuesday afternoon. We are about to drive south to Seward to see the small fishing port, and the mountians along the way. I have had a great time so far. Tony and Jill have been great hosts! Dave, Tony, and I have been cutting up and goofing around the whole time. Plus, driving around is just beautiful. Looking out the window of this room, I can see the Chugiak Mountains! This state is by far one of the most picturesque places I have been.
Comments
Glad to hear that no "Blair Witch Project" situations occured during your excursion in the woods.....I can't wait to see your pictures of the area. Have a safe trip home Simeon.
hey buddy, glad to hear you're having fun up north...sounds like a good time. Bear repellent is overrated, and if you do encounter a bear in the wild, simply run straight towards it head first. I hear thats the safest way to avoid bear attacks....just thought I'd try to help. Also, please be wary of postings from large silent men who wear LaSalle Basketball shirts on the beach...they have been known to "run train" on more than one victim in the past. Have a safe flight.
